I recently exchanged books with the World Bank’s Chief Economist Justin Lin. I’ve since been reading his “Economic Development and Transition”. It explains why countries, such as China were so successful at reforming their economies whereas others, such as Russia, have struggled. The secret recipe? Pragmatism. Now, this might sound too easy. But Lin makes [...]
Gallery Archive
Chinese investors are coming to you soon
The next big thing? Chinese foreign investment abroad. Sinopec’s purchase of Addax, an independent oil company with oil fields in Africa and Iraq, caught news headlines on Wednesday. But more important was the ongoing collapse in corporate profits during the first five months of the year. The figure was reported on Friday. Economic activity may [...]
A quick lesson in China’s relations with Iran
This is an interesting quote from Wang Zhen, an academic at the Shanghai Academy of Social Science’s East Europe, Middle & West Asia Institute, in relation to Iran. It neatly captures a key influence, or restraint, on China’s policy stance towards the Middle East. I’ve heard the same from other academics. “China also needs Iran [...]
The Flipside of Sanctions
Iran faces its greatest challenge since the revolution in 1979. It is unclear how events will play out. However, the chances of Ahmadinejad remaining in power are still high. And, as President Obama recently said, Mousavi may be no easier to deal with. The upshot is that the West is likely to leave sanctions in [...]
Hong Kong targets Syria as a manufacturing zone
I’ve been arguing for a while that we will start to see more Chinese investment in the Middle East. However, the evidence so far is limited. For instance, I met last week with the Beijing Furniture Manufacturers Association. Their director, Yu Xiusu, had just returned from a trip to the Middle East. But mainly to [...]
Is Libya the next hot spot?
I bumped into staff from the Central Bank of Libya’s research department in Beijing last week. Apparently, 6,000 Chinese nationals have applied for visas at the Libyan embassy in the past month alone. The majority are construction workers. So, it’s not just Algeria that is seeing an influx of Chinese construction companies.
Lifting the hood on Dragon Mart
Sometimes you get to lift the hood and take a look inside. Here’s an expose on Dubai’s Dragon Mart, the 150,000 square meter shopping mall selling mainly Chinese goods in the UAE. It’s taken from the Chinese-language “China Business Journal”. It makes a number of interesting points about how Chinese traders are dealing with the [...]
Boots on the ground
President Obama’s speech in Cairo last Thursday was a remarkable achievement. It was also a lesson in America’s ability to produce a foreign policy U-turn in a short space of time. It wasn’t long ago, after all, that President Bush was given a standing ovation by Israel’s legislature, as he spoke of risks of terrorism. [...]
“China cheat sheet helps investors survive”, Bloomberg, September 1, 2010
“No more silver bullets for Beijing”, Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2010
“China’s historic return to the Gulf”, Foreign Policy, April 2, 2010
